Demands for corporate reporting growing in India: EY

Demands for corporate reporting are growing in India owing to significant changes in the regulatory and financial reporting standards, but companies also need to embrace advanced technology, says an EY report.
Key priorities for corporate reporting in India are upgrading IT and financial data analytics tools for 60 per cent of finance professionals as against 45 per cent globally, global consultancy major EY said.
The survey of CFOs or financial controllers noted that other major priorities are establishing an integrated data management approach for finance data and meeting stakeholder demands for smarter and faster information.
"Increase in reporting demands are due to significant changes in the regulatory and financial reporting environment in India upon adoption of Ind AS," said Sandip Khetan, Financial Accounting Advisory Services (FAAS) leader and Partner, EY India.

Khetan further noted that changing business and regulatory environment has resulted in enhanced focus on corporate governance by companies in India.
"To meet the growing needs of external stakeholders efficiently, companies need to shift the finance mindset and embrace technology innovation with the right set of IT tools and data management approach," he said.

The main barriers to implement new finance or reporting technologies are lack of collaboration between finance and IT and the lack of finance function advanced analytics capability.
Accepting these constraints, the vast majority of CFOs (Chief Financial Officers) in India plan to spend more on reporting technology. Around 98 per cent expect to increase investment in corporate reporting technologies over the next two years as against 87 per cent globally.

"Companies Act, 2013 has ensured the mandatory rotation of statutory auditors for a defined set of Companies. In view of the same, it has become important for internal auditors to act as a bridge between the exiting and incoming auditors. The industry is now working for significantly more 'value' from audit than mere compliance," Khetan added.